


Edge to Edge the Blue Absolute

by nitpickyabouttrains



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Dawn - Freeform, I blame the primer, M/M, Snow, What Have I Done, dawn 2017, everything I know about hockey is from LIFF, h/c sorta, this is a present, what even is this, who are these people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-03 02:20:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17275262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitpickyabouttrains/pseuds/nitpickyabouttrains
Summary: “What the fuck, man?” Jamie asked, rubbing one of his eyes, once he had realized that this was not a life or death situation. He let out a deep sigh, a breath he had not realized he had been holding.Tyler lifted a hand and pointed out over Jamie’s shoulder. “Snow,” he said.





	Edge to Edge the Blue Absolute

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kirenamuln](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirenamuln/gifts).



> Remember when I wrote a thing? I barely do! Happy year belated Dawn.

The pounding on his apartment door woke Jamie from a deep sleep. They were home for a few weeks, training hard, and Jamie had passed out the night before into a dreamless slumber, worn out from the day.

Barely opening his eyes, he reached out a hand to his bedside table and searched around until he managed to hit his phone. Lifting it, he pressed the home button and blue light burst into the room, making him squint even more. The clock on the phone blinked from 3:19am to 3:20am, and it took Jamie a moment to digest that information.

His alarm was not set to go off for another two hours. He had planned to roll out of bed at 5:30, throw on his workout clothes, and make it to the gym before 6.

“Guh,” he groaned, closing his eyes and putting his phone down. It was too early.

The knocking at his door, however, was not letting up. He would say that it was growing more and more persistent, but it had been constant and unending since it startled him out of his sleep.

Maybe Jordie would get the door? Whoever was on the other side was clearly not going away. But Jordie slept with a noise machine on, and his room was farther from the front door. He might not even be able to hear the noise.

_ Fine, _ he thought, forcing himself to roll out of bed. It could be an emergency after all. Someone on the team could be in trouble or need help. He didn’t have any missed calls, so it couldn’t have been that bad. But everyone knew where he lived and he had been called before to get someone out of a tight spot at odd hours.

Jamie shuffled out of his room and into the main hallway, over to the front door. He didn’t blink his eyes opened all the way until he grabbed the handle and pulled it in, so he could see who was on the other side.

Tyler.

Suddenly, Jamie felt much more awake. Seeing one of the other players clicked something in his head, and he went into game mode. Was something wrong? Jamie’s eyes immediately scanned Tyler’s body, looking for blood or bone or trauma.

Nothing seemed to be amiss at all. Tyler was wearing plaid loose flannel pants and a tight grey long sleeve t-shirt, which clung tightly to his frame. He was holding skates in his hand, by the laces. By the time Jamie’s eyes reached Tyler’s face, he noticed that the other man was actually grinning, and did not seem to be in distress at all.

“What the fuck, man?” Jamie asked, rubbing one of his eyes, once he had realized that this was not a life or death situation. He let out a deep sigh, a breath he had not realized he had been holding.

Tyler lifted a hand and pointed out over Jamie’s shoulder. “Snow,” he said.

“What?” Jamie said again, not following at all. There were dark circles under Tyler’s eyes and his chin was covered in a dark dusting of scruff. Tyler looked like he had rolled out of bed himself, or maybe like he had never made it there at all. It wasn’t how he usually showed up at practice in the mornings. But Jamie was sure he did not look much better himself.

The one difference, Jamie was sure, was that the smile Tyler was wearing reached all the way to his eyes. Deep, oak brown eyes that were sparkling now, shining with delight. He looked so pleased with himself that Jamie wanted to smile back. Almost. Mostly he wanted to know what was happening.

“It’s snowing,” Tyler said, gesturing again.

Jamie turned and followed Tyler’s finger, which was pointing out the window in the kitchen area. Sure enough, fat white flakes were coming down. Not just a flurry either, a real snowfall.

Almost without thinking, Jamie walked over to the window to get a better look. He could hear the footsteps behind him and Tyler came up beside him. He could feel the heat rolling off the other man, and the cold from the window, and was surprised how much it reminded him of home

The moon was shining through some of the clouds, filtering around the flakes, and turning the night outside a sort of light purple. “Wow,” Jamie said, a hand going up to the window, as if to reach out and touch it.

It was not impossible to get snow in Texas, but it did not happen often. This winter, however, had been particularly cold. The last few weeks had felt almost like it had when he was little, when winter meant bundling up. Being on the ice was not the same as a real season, as having weather like they were having right then.

It was almost magical.

“Come on,” Tyler said. “Grab your skates and let’s go.”

The other man’s voice pulled Jamie’s thoughts away from the window and the snow. “Go where?” Jamie asked, focusing on Tyler and the excited look on his face.

Tyler blinked at him, once, like he was not sure he understood the question. “Out.”

+++

Before Jamie really knew what was happening he had an old worn Canadian Hockey sweatshirt thrown on own pajamas, and his skates in his own hand, and he was following Tyler out into the snow.

Flakes swirled around their heads, and Jamie kept wanting to look up, at the sky, and watch it all come down. There was something magical about having the wind blow icy cold, snow getting caught in your hair, as the world got coated in white.

But Tyler was not having the pauses Jamie kept taking. He yanked on Jamie’s arm and kept them moving, clearly with a location in mind. Tyler had not bothered to share it with Jamie yet, and Jamie found that he did not much care. Given the skates they were both carrying, he assumed they were going to the rink early, though it was covered so he was not sure what that had to do with the snow.

They weren’t heading toward the cars, though, or toward the road. Tyler was leading them into the trees behind their apartment building.

“Hurry up,” Tyler said, tugging on Jamie’s sleeve, “just a little further.”

The snow changed the landscape, but not that much. It must have been coming down for a while before Tyler came to get him, there was already a thin layer of white snow on everything. So early in the morning, it was not yet disturbed, still clean and fresh and full of possibilities. But there was not so much of it that Jamie could not recognize the area around them.

Which was why he was not altogether surprised when Tyler pulled him into the entrance of Palos Verdes Park.

Jamie followed as Tyler lead them to the pond, where he finally stopped walking, looking out onto the water, proud of himself. Then he sat down in the snow and started putting on his skates.

“What are you doing?” Jamie asked, although he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

“I wanted to see if the pond was frozen over,” Tyler said. He gestured out toward the water theatrically, as if presenting something rare and precious. “And it is.”

Jamie looked out onto the water. It was frozen, but just barely. He could still see the movement of water underneath in some places, right by the bank. And most was covered in snow, not clear enough to see if it was safe.

“I don’t think the ice is thick enough,” Jamie said, squatting down so he could get a better look at it. He had spent a ton of time skating outside as a kid. Every winter they would wait until the ponds and rivers froze enough to skate on them, but there was an art to it, and Jamie knew it took time.

“Let’s find out,” Tyler said glibly, sitting down to tie his laces.

It had been cold for the past week, but not cold enough for this to be a sure thing, like Tyler was suggesting. It was still Texas, after all. The ground was barely frozen enough for the snow to stick.

Tyler was already back on his feet, and Jamie could see him itching to get on the ice. It must have reminded him of his own home growing up, even if he did not play hockey as a kid. It must have also reminded him of Boston, of longer winters.

Jamie reached out and grabbed Tyler’s arm. “Just hold on. At least let me test it out, okay? Before you put skates on it.”

It was a small request, and Jamie was pretty sure he knew what he was going to find. But it at least gave Tyler pause. Tyler nodded his head once, so used to being a player on a team, to following the directions of those in charge of making the calls. On the ice he was always part of a team, and that meant listening to your captain. “Sure, I guess.”

Jamie stepped out in front of the younger man, putting himself between the pond and Tyler. He moved over a little, away from where he could see how thin the ice was. If he was going to check, and he was, because he said he would and he never lied to his players, then he would give it the best shot he could. Besides, part of him wanted it to work, wanted to get to skate under the open sky.

He picked up a stick from the brush next to him, and used it to gently tap the ice in front of him. The first bit actually seemed ok, so Jamie reached out the tree branch further, putting a little more pressure on the ice. That held too.

He reached out the stick to go even farther, and carefully placed one foot, still in his sneaker, onto the ice he had already tested. This gave him better reach as well as a chance to see how the ice was with his foot.

It seemed to be holding.

Jamie could feel a smile starting to spread on his own face. This might actually work! He turned to let Tyler know. “Let’s do i- ahhh!“

The words got cut off, as he let out a shriek. Without warning there was a loud cracking sound and the ice around his sneaker shattered, plunging his foot into the freezing water.

Jamie reached out in front of himself, trying to catch himself from falling, but he lost his balance, toppling into the snow covered ice. For a second it seemed to hold under him, and he scrambled to stand again, to pull his foot out of the water.

But the movement was too much, and the ice broke, and Jamie’s vision went to black as he fell into the wintery pond.

+++

“Shit, shit, shit,” it sounds almost like a song, repetitive but almost comforting in its rhythm and pace. Jamie could hear it through the thick fog that seems to have settled over his mind.

The next thing he noticed was how cold he was. Freezing. He could barely feel his arms and legs, his fingers and toes. Everything was numb and tingly.

He was lying on something warm, though, and it felt like there was a heater pressed up against his chest. Slowly, he could feel some of the warmth returning to his skin, to his body. Jamie blinked open his eyes, but it was not an easy action. It felt like they were coated with ice, frozen shut.

When he finally managed to open them, though, he was surprised to be looking up at the sky. Dawn was breaking over the horizon, and the weak light of the sun was starting to filter through the trees in the park. It lit everything in an eerily calm glow, soft and warm, though the day was not. Jamie blinked again, because there were dark lines crossing his vision, interrupting the dawn.

It took him a moment to realize that it was hair. Hair atop a head that was splayed out across his chest, the source of the warmth that had woken him.

“What-“ Jamie started to ask, but stopped when his voice came out weak and rough.

Tyler’s head flew up. His hair was wild and his eyes wide. “You aren’t dead,” Tyler said, his voice somehow both a question and a command.

“Good to know,” Jamie said, trying to process what was going on. His shirt was off, so was Tyler’s. Based on the feeling he was getting back, it seemed like he might be laying on at least one of them. Tyler was pressed up against Jamie, even now as they were talking, covering as much of Jamie’s body as he could with his own.

“Help is on the way,” Tyler said. “You just need to stay warm enough until the EMTs get here.”

“Ice?” Jamie asked, using as few words as possible. As he got feeling back, all he could sense was cold. He was freezing. He must have fallen in.

“It cracked,” Tyler said.

Jamie suddenly noticed that Tyler’s hair was also wet, that he was also shivering. “Under you too?” Jamie asked, concerned for his teammate.

“No,” Tyler said, reaching a hand up and running it through his soggy hair. “But you went down and I had to get you out.”

Concern coursed through Jamie at the thought. Tyler was strong, he was good at hockey, but there was not much of him there. All muscle which he had trouble keeping on. He would not stand a chance in the cold.

“You should put your shirt back on,” Jamie said. “Don’t…I mean…for me…”

The words would not come out right, but Tyler seemed to understand because he had a small smile playing at the edge of his lips. “I’ll be fine. Help should be here soon. I can hang on until then, if you can.”

Jamie nodded and closed his eyes again, cold and tired. It was dangerous, he knew, to fall asleep if you had hypothermia. But the warm press of Tyler’s body against his was keeping him grounded. He knew the other man would not let anything happen to him. “I’ll do my best.”

+++

 


End file.
